Today i was showing some of my photos to one of my friends and she was so impressed with them that she wants me to photograph her. I have neever been asked this before and I am afraid I will end up with some crappy photos. I really want to do it though I think it would be a good experience for me. I need some tips on photographing people though. I want these photos to look good. If you have any suggestions please post them.

First thing you have to do is find the way the person looks the nicest.
Is it from the front (most of the time not), or from the left or right.
When deciding that also experiment with the angles, I always love to shoot from a bit different angle than eyeheight.
On some models shooting from a slight top angle is very flattering on others this will make the forhead stand out too much.

By choosing the angle you can change the appearance of a face quite a bit, sometimes in the start of the session I really have shots on which the face is enormously fat while one shot later she is thin, quess which one they like the best LOL.

The power of digital is that you can see what you do, and share this with your model.

When shooting from the sides remember to follow the structure of the nose and alway's try to get both eyes in the shot, also take note of the (don't know the english word for it, wang....) that's the area from under the eye to the mouth where you blush(I feel reel stupid here ).
Try to avoid a hump sticking out of the nose with that area, so position that with care so you get a flow in the face.

When you decided on the angle and faceside start on light.

When working with onboard flash try a papertowl on the flash it will result in less redeye and will make the light softer, also place a small lightbulb or flashlight behind you, this will reduce redeye even more and will make the pupil smaller which will in effect make the eye more beautifull.

When working with natural light experiment, experiment, experiment and use a little bit or alot fill in flash.

With full bodies alway's start with finding S-curves in the body, take very good care of the hands, no fingers can be missing, and hands should alway's be taken from sides or they will appear too big.

And in other words, just ask her tell her you are inexperient and experiment.

I think the word you were searching for is cheekbone. Don't be ashamed of your english Frank, it's better than some who have been speaking it all their life.:-), see I had to edit my post for spelling errors

ALWAYS's focus on the eyes, reframe and shoot.
The eyes have it so to say, if those are not in focus the shot is in 99,9% ruined.

Also alway's remember that when someones sits or holds their head there can be rimples, avoid that, those can also appear on certain poses, alway's try to keep the skin flat, real problem area's are chin and neck, take extra care there.

And one last thing for now .
When you photograph with hands or other parts in the shot alway's take care they don't take over the picture, the main point should normally be the face.
When for example you photograph a head on a knee take care the knee doesn't take the shot instead of the head.

And remember (Sorry to keep on going) that things closer to the lens will look BIGGER than in real life (remember what you American's put on mirrors of a car ) depending on your lens size this can be huge to a bit bigger.
Especially with wide angles this effect is seen, see example.

Wide angle

Normal lens

And most of all HAVE FUN !!!
I do and most of the time it pays off .
Browse through my pictures and just ask what you want to know www.doorhof.nl/models

The only thing I can suggest, John, is that you take loads of pictures. This is your friend you're using as a subject so don't be afraid to mess up some shots. She will understand, especially as you're new to this type of photography. You'll both get a laugh out of the messed ones to. And make sure to get some pictures of her laughing when she doesn't know that you're going to take them. A genuine laugh and smile is worth a thousand "fake" ones, in my opinion as someone who has never tried this sort of thing. :lol: As she's a friend, she may come back and ask you to take some more to and you'll both see the improvement in the sessions.